Today I met my friend Jennifer for lunch at Ranoush, a Syrian restaurant here in St. Louis. We went to the location on Delmar, and there is another in Kirkwood. WOW! I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful the food and service was here at Ranoush.
Doesn’t that all look good? Jennifer and I decided to get the “Traditional Mezza for Two” which has Falfel, kibbeh, tabbouleh, fatayer, hummus, baba ganoush, warak inab, moutabal, those gorgeous pink pickles, and it is served with fresh pita. I labeled the same plate below so you knew what was what.
Some of these items I have had before, but the flavor at Ranoush is outstanding! Hummus is probably what I eat the most often and this was creamy and smooth but with just the right flavor to it and some extra whole chickpeas sprinkled on top. The baba ganoush was heavenly. The tabbouleh was so fresh and was great mixed with either the hummus or baba ganoush and spread on the pita. I was really unsure about those pink pickles. I want to say they were pickled onions, but I am not 100% positive, whatever pickled veggie it was had a great bright flavor that went really well against the creaminess and/or fried other items on the plate. The falafel was the best I have ever had. Most of the falafel I have tried is pretty dry and usually a bit blah – this was nothing like that! It was not wet, but definitely moister than most in a good way and had a fabulous flavor which I am assuming is from fresh herbs because it had a green tint to it inside. The kibbeh has meat inside and also packed a lot of flavor, not just texture. Our fatayer was stuffed with cheese – what could be wrong with that? The warak inab I liked the stuffing inside very much, a nice bright flavor, but I am not a fan of the actual leaves that are the wrapper – this is something I already knew though, it’s a texture thing. Jennifer really liked all of the warak inab though. The only thing I did not care for was the moutabal – but again that was a Robyn thing as it had fresh green pepper in it (raw) which I never like to eat. I did taste it though and it really was very fresh and light tasting. Just lovely!
During the meal the staff was so friendly and helpful. Just wonderfully nice guys who really seemed to go out of there way to make everyone feel very welcome in their restaurant. At the end of our meal our server brought us over a plate with baklava and said ‘even though you both are already sweet enough, here you are”. He said it in a really nice way too, not corny. The baklava was fabulous – not that super sugary kind at all. This had just enough sweetness and was so fresh. Ohhh, my mouth is watering again just talking about all of this food!
If you are in St. Louis I highly recommend Ranoush! Thank you Jennifer for sharing it with me. The only thing better than the food and service today was spending time chatting with you my friend!
Click to make this image bigger to read it easier.
Disclosure: None – I went there just as a regular person but wanted to share this wonderful find with everyone!
© 2012, Robyn Wright. All rights reserved.
